All-Area Soccer: Highland Park senior Gittins did whatever was needed to bring state title home

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Matt Strasen/Special Contributor

All-Area Soccer Boys Player of the Year: Forward Jefry Saravia (center in photo) was the leading scorer on Dallas Thomas Jefferson’s Class 4A Region II semifinal team. The school won a record 19 games and made the fifth round of the playoffs for the first time.

In the end, Wakeland — like nearly every other opponent in the playoffs — didn’t have an answer for the Lady Scots. Highland Park beat Wakeland, 4-0, with two goals off assists from Gittins.

To make the state final, Highland Park (28-1-2) outscored its opponents, 27-3, in seven games.

And in the final, when the game went to a shootout, Gittins was one of the four Highland Park shooters to convert.

Highland Park coach Stewart Brown said that Gittins was the “glue that made everything stick together.”

She could be a prolific scorer — her team-high in goals as a sophomore in 2010 is testament to that — but she would also do the little things necessary for her team’s success.

Gittins finished with 29 goals and 18 assists, helping Highland Park win its fifth state title and its first since 2002.

“It was such a great feeling,” Gittins said. “That was a goal from Day One of middle school.”

About Gittins: She was the team’s second-leading scorer (behind nationally ranked junior Katie Martin) and was tied with Martin for the team high in assists. Gittins is the first Highland Park girl to be named Player of the Year since Ashley Lucas in 2005.

Did you know? Gittins is in the top 10 percent of her class at Highland Park. She will play collegiately next season at Princeton.

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